LAFAYETTE 

IN 
BROOKLYN 

BY 

WALT    WHITMAN 
1904 


o 


L3 


LAFAYETTE     IN    BROOKLYN 


Of  this  book  250  copies  have  been  printed 
at  the  Literary  Collector  Press,  as  follows : 
15  copies  on  Imperial  Japanese  Vellum,  and 
235  copies  on  American  Hand  Made  Paper. 


LAFAYETTE  IN  BROOKLYN 


BY 

WALT  WHITMAN 


WITH    AN    INTRODUCTION 

BY 
JOHN    BURROUGHS 


GEORGE  D.  SMITH 

NEW  YORK 

1905 


Copyright,   1905 
BY  GEORGE  D.  SMITH 


THE    LITERARY   COLLECTOR    PRESS 
GREENWICH,   CONNECTICUT 


CONTENTS 

Introduction 

By  John  Burroughs 

Lafayette  in  Brooklyn 

By  Walt  Whitman 

Notes 


PLATES 

Walt  Whitman 

From  a  photograph  by  Cox 

Lafayette 

From  the  painting  by 

S.  F.  B.  Morse 

Facsimile  of  a  part  of 

Whitman's  Manuscript 


The  following  paper  is  printed  lit 
erally  from  an  undated  MS.  prepared 
by  Whitman  for  the  printer,  but 
never  published.  The  minutes  of 
the  New  England  Historic  Gene 
alogical  Society  mention  two  occa 
sions —  October  5,  and  December  7, 
1 8  8 1  —  on  which  papers  on  Lafayette 
were  read  and  followed  by  "remarks 
by  several  gentlemen."  Whitman's 
name  is  not  recorded  in  the  minutes 
of  either  meeting. 


INTRODUCTION 

BY 
JOHN  BURROUGHS 


INTRODUCTION 


I  HAVE  often  heard  Whitman 
speak  of  the  incident  of  his 
childhood  narrated  in  the 
following  pages,  and  always  with 
a  feeling  of  pride  and  pleasure. 
It  probably  occurred  in  the  fall 
of  1824  as  Lafayette  landed  in 
this  country  in  August  of  that 
year.  He  came  in  response  to 
an  invitation  from  Congress, 
made  through  President  Monroe, 
and  remained  with  us  over  a 


INTRODUCTION 

year,  visiting  all  the  principal 
cities  and  each  of  the  twenty- 
four  states. 

At  this  time  the  Whitman 
family  had  recently  moved  to 
Brooklyn  from  the  country,  and 
I  fancy  that  Walt  was  a  typical 
country  boy  of  about  five  years, 
not  at  all  "bright  and  smart"  as 
city  boys  so  often  are,  but  ruddy, 
normal,  healthy  —  a  bit  of  sound 
rural  humanity,  yet  very  im 
pressionable,  as  his  vivid  recol 
lection  of  the  Lafayette  incident, 
even  to  the  color  of  the  horses 
and  of  the  barouche  in  which 
he  came,  clearly  shows.  In  that 
casual  incident  of  a  moment,  the 
French  democracy  of  the  eight 
eenth  century,  as  exemplified  by 
the  life  and  character  of  one  of 
its  most  noted  representatives, 
embraced  and  caressed  the  heir 


INTRODUCTION 

of  the  new  democracy  of  the 
nineteenth  century  —  its  future 
poet  and  most  complete  and 
composite  embodiment.  There 
is  something  very  significant,  al 
most  fateful,  iti  the  incident.  In 
all  that  crowd  of  children  La 
fayette  could  have  touched  none 
other  who  was  destined  so  to 
glorify  and  embody  in  imagina 
tive  words  the  spirit  of  the  coun 
try  to  whose  service  he  had,  in 
his  young  manhood,  so  freely 
offered  his  life. 

How  much  his  memory  of 
Lafayette  influenced  Whitman's 
liking  for  the  French  people,  it 
would  be  impossible  to  deter 
mine.  Certain  it  is  that  he  al 
ways  had  a  peculiarly  warm 
feeling  for  that  nation,  more  so 
I  think  than  for  any  other  Eu 
ropean  country.  There  was  some 


INTRODUCTION 

thing  in  that  audacious  revolu 
tionary  spirit  of  the  French  that 
moved  him;  —  that  struggle  for 
liberty,  — 

Alone,  among  the  sisters,  thou,  Giantess,   didst 
rend  the  ones  that  shamed  thee. 

He  wrote  two  poems  to 
France,  the  first  on  the  French 
Revolution,  published  in  1860, 
in  which  he  says  — 

Pale,   silent,    stern,    what    could   I   say  to    that 

long-accrued  retribution  ? 
Could  I  wish  humanity  different  ? 
Could    I    wish  the  people  made  of  wood  and 

stone  ? 
Or  that  there  be  no  justice  in  destiny  or  time? 

The  last  poem  in  1870  was  sug 
gested  by  the  defeat  of  France 
by  the  Germans.  During  this 
war  I  remember  that  Whitman's 
sympathies  were  as  pronounced 
in  favor  of  the  French,  as  are 
our  sympathies  to-day,  in  favor 
of  Japan  as  against  Russia.  The 


INTRODUCTION 

poem    is    entitled    "O    Star    of 
France. " 

Dim,  smitten  star 

Orb  not  of  France  alone,    pale  symbol    of  my 

soul,  its  dearest  hopes, 
The  struggle  and  the   daring,    rage    divine    for 

liberty, 
Of  aspirations  toward  the  far  ideal  —  enthusiast's 

dream  of  brotherhood, 
Of  terror  to  the  tyrant  and  the  priest. 

Truly  there  was  something 
prophetic  in  this  caress  of  the 
child  Whitman  by  Lafayette. 

JOHN   BURROUGHS. 


LAFAYETTE   IN    BROOKLYN 

BY 
WALT   WHITMAN 


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The  following  impromptu  remin 
iscence  of  Lafayette's  'visit  to  this 
country  in  182$,  and  his  going 
over  one  day  to  Brooklyn,  New 
York,  was  given  some  time  since  at 
a  meeting  of  the  New  England 
Historic  Genealogical  Society,  in 
Somerset  street,  Eos  ton. 

Walt  Whitman. 


LAFAYETTE    IN    BROOKLYN 

of  the  present  day ;  but  was  full 
as  hearty  &  far  less  tedious.  The 
people  on  this  occasion  all  turned 
out  and  formed  on  both  sides  of 
a  hollow  lane  nearly  two  miles 
long,  thickly  fringed  with  well- 
dress'd  humanity,  women  as  well 
as  men,  the  children  placed  in 
front.  That  was  about  all,  yet 
it  was  singularly  effective.  La 
fayette  came  over  at  Fulton  Ferry, 
(then  called  the  Old  Ferry)  in 
a  large  canary-colored  open  ba 
rouche,  drawn  by  four  magnifi 
cent  white  horses.  I  think  there 
was  no  band  of  music,  and  I  think 
no  speechifying,  (or  if  so,  only  a 
few  brief  words) — but  a  marked 
profusion  of  young  children,  and 
old  men,  (several  of  the  latter 
were  revolutionary  soldiers,)  and 
a  number  of  blacks  freed  from 
slavery  by  the  then  late  New 


WALT  WHITMAN 

York  emancipation  acts.  These 
diversified  the  main  assemblage 
which  was  composed  of  substantial 
Brooklyn  citizens  with  their 
wives. 

Through  all,  the  carriage  of 
the  noble  Frenchman  was  very 
slowly  driven.  I  remember  that 
the  fine  horses  and  their  impa 
tient  action  under  the  curb,  at 
tracted  my  attention  fully  as  much 
as  the  great  visitor  himself.  The 
whole  thing  was  curiously  mag 
netic  and  quiet.  Lafayette  was 
evidently  deeply  pleased  and  af 
fected.  Smiles  and  tears  con 
tended  on  his  homely  yet  most 
winning  features. 

But  the  principal  incident  in 
my  recollection  is  now  to  come. 
They  were  at  that  time  just  com 
mencing  the  foundation  of  the 
Brooklyn  Apprentices  Library, 


LAFAYETTE   IN    BROOKLYN 

and  Lafayette  had  consented  to 
lay  the  cornerstone  with  his  own 
hands — that  is  to  grasp  it  per 
sonally.  Some  half  a  mile  or 
over  from  the  ferry,  he  stopt, 
got  out  of  the  barouche,  and  in 
the  midst  of  the  crowd,  with 
other  gentlemen,  assisted  in  lift 
ing  the  children,  amid  the  deep- 
cut  excavation  and  heaps  of 
stones,  to  safe  spots  where  they 
could  see  the  ceremony.  Hap 
pening  to  stand  near,  I  remember 
I  was  taken  up  by  Lafayette  in 
his  arms  and  held  a  moment  — 
I  remember  that  he  press'd  my 
cheek  with  a  kiss  as  he  set  me 
down — the  childish  wonder  and 
nonchalance  during  the  whole 
affair  at  the  time, —  contrasting 
with  the  indescribable  precious- 
ness  of  the  reminiscence  since. 
I  remember  quite  well  La- 


WALT  WHITMAN 

fayette's  looks,  tall,  brown,  not 
handsome  in  the  face,  but  of  fine 
figure  and  the  pattern  of  good 
nature,  health,  manliness,  and 
human  attraction.  (A  life  size 
full  length  oil-painting  exhibited 
years  ago  in  Philadelphia,  in 
1877  I  think,  seems  to  me  an 
admirable  likeness  as  I  recollect 
him  at  the  time.) 

That  beautiful  sunshiny  day, 
over  sixty  years  since,  the  spon 
taneous  effusion  of  all  stages  of 
humanity,  and  the  occasion,  made 
a  picture,  which  time  has  con 
tinued  to  set  deeper  and  deeper 
in  my  recollection. 


NOTES 

Whitman  was  born  May  3 1 ,  1819. 
Lafayette  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the 
Apprentices'  Library  on  July  4, 1 825. 

The  Apprentices'  Library  Building 
was  situated  at  Cranberry  and  Henry 
Streets.  The  building  was  pulled 
down  some  years  ago,  and  the  associ 
ation  is  now  incorporated  in  the 
Brooklyn  Institute. 

The  portrait  of  Lafayette  referred 
to  by  Whitman  is  the  one  painted  by 
S.  F.  B.  Morse,  which  now  hangs  in 
the  Governor's  room  of  the  City 
Hall,  New  York. 

"  Almost  in  this  same  neighbor 
hood  [Broadway  and  Canal  Streets, 
New  York]  I  distinctly  remembered 
seeing  Lafayette  on  his  visit  to 
America  in  1825." — Whitman's  "Ad 
dress  on  Lincoln." 

"  Lafayette  was  at  that  time  be 
tween  sixty-five  and  seventy  years  of 
age,  with  a  manly  figure  and  a  kind 
face." — Whitman's  "Goodbye,  My 
Fancy." 


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